Rules of Evidence: File Under Knowledge of Conventions

Just as discourse communities share conventions of genre, voice, tone, diction, etc., each has its own ideas about what kind and amount of evidence justifies a conclusion. Think, for instance, of what it takes to prove to a woman's support group and a court of law that a husband has committed adultery. You need to discover the rules of evidence for any discourse community you wish to join. Why? Logos and ethos based arguments heavily depend on evidence to support them. If you don't use enough evidence or don't employ the right type, then the credibility of your arguments suffers or, in the worse case, might be destroyed.

Academic discourse has fairly rigorous standards of evidence, because the outside community often bases their opinion and actions on the knowledge we create and propagate. As a student, you might find these rigorous standards finicky, but you want your doctors to know what is enough evidence to decide what your disease is and not make mistakes. You want engineers to know (and not just think or believe) that the steel and concrete used to make a bridge is up to the daily load of traffic over it. In other words, you don't want folks making critical decision to have slack rules of evidence.

Part of developing an academic voice is learning what rules of evidence, that is what types and amount, are sufficient for the discipline you are studying to draw a conclusion. Those of us in English might be able to construct Shakespeare's life from the scant pieces of evidence on which we have to draw, but you don't want folks using these same rules to convict you of murder.

Here are some words we use to describe and talk about evidence. Learn them:

• opinion
• hearsay
• authenticity
• physical evidence
• relevance
• germane
• authentic
• expert
• sufficient
• enough
• lack of
• sufficiency
• eye-witness
• primary
• secondary
• biased
• source of
• documented
• refereed
• long standing
• degree of certainty
• smoking gun
• circumstantial
  
• empirical
  
• qualitative
• verifiable
• quantified
  

Notes on Revision

Each semester, as I teach another course, developmental writing, I provide my class with notes on how to revise an argumentative, three hour, in-class paper, but most of these notes apply to most academic writing; so, I decided to share them with you. Find them below:

Here’s the real secret to good writing: revision. As with most profound ideas, it sounds simple, but it’s not. Good writers revise as they draft, AND they go through multiple revisions after a draft is complete. The first manner of revision is easy to get your head around. Because most of us now write on the computer, we tend to see revision as an ongoing part of writing, and we tend to believe a paper is finished when we draft the last paragraph and read back through it once or twice. This isn’t revision.

It is next to impossible to revise completely as you draft and as you proofread. My brother once told me, “If a girl is worth asking out, she is worth your full and undivided attention.” He was right. The same rule applies to revision. When you revise, you revise. Take the time. Just as with a date, you will be happier with the results. Of course, the problem is, just as with that date, if you don’t take the time to give revision your full attention, you may come to the mistaken belief that what you are experiencing is the best date out there. If for no other reason, revise because you want a higher score.

Tips for Revision:

1. Print out a hard copy of your draft.

2. Spend individual time revising, and print out a new copy.

3. Read the new copy *out loud*, and revise it again.

4. Print out yet a new hard copy, and get a second reader to help you revise it.

Here are the most important, general questions you need to answer at as you revise?

• Is there another idea(s) you might introduce which would make your claim(s) sound more reasonable or clarify your thinking?
• Could your paper be organized in a better way? For a moment, play with the idea of moving your paragraphs or sections into a new order.
• Do you provide sufficient evidence to support each of your claims, both the major claim you make in your thesis statement AND the other claims you make in each paragraph? Look at each claim and sub-claim, ask yourself, “What additional evidence could I provide?” “Do I provide enough evidence?” The secret number is three. If I provide three reasons or three pieces of evidence to support an idea, then I know—in general—I’ve provided enough.
• Do you define the terms you use and illustrate them with examples, stories, etc.?
• Do I stay on topic? Do I introduce ideas I need to cut, or do I introduce ideas to which I need to devote their own paragraph?
• Could I add a phrase or sentence which would clarify what I want to say?

Here are questions to ask of each section of your paper?

Introduction:

• Does the introduction hook the reader and draw them into the paper?
• Does the introduction lead in a logical straightforward way to my thesis statement?
• If I introduce unfamiliar terms, do I define them in the introduction?
• Does the introduction provide context for my take on the topic and my thesis?

Thesis:

• Is my thesis narrow enough? Can I fully develop this thesis in the time I have to write?
• Is my thesis too broad? Have I written a thesis which is so broad that everything I have to say about it seems vague and too general?
• Does my thesis say what I want to say about my topic?
• Does my thesis make a point worth considering? Will my reader care about my point? Do I care about the point I am making?
• Does my thesis provide the reader with a sense of the structure of the paper?
• Does my paper fulfill the promises I make in the thesis?

Structure:

• Is my structure logical?
• Are there gaps in the reasons I give my reader to believe my thesis?
• Do I require my reader to make logical leaps for which I haven’t prepared her?
• Is each of my sub-claims, points, and pieces adequately developed?
• Is each point equally developed?
• Is each point interesting?
• Is each point relevant to the case I am making?

Body Paragraphs:

• Does each paragraph have a topic sentence which controls the paragraph?
• Does each paragraph establish a single focus and stay on focus?
• Do I provide adequate transitions from paragraph to paragraph?
• Is each paragraph clearly related to my thesis?

Conclusion:

• Does your conclusion sum up my main point?
• Does my conclusion introduce a completely new idea?
• Does my conclusion leave the reader with something to think about?

In class assignment, Wednesday, 2 April

Every once in a while I pull one of those absence minded professor moments which is more of a boner than normal. Usually, it's just leaving my books, pens, eye-glasses in a room or forgetting to pick up my wallet or forgetting where I put a stack of student papers. This morning was different, and my carelessness was compounded by the fact I was half asleep.

Around 4:30 this morning, my joints are hurting; so, I wake up early and stumble into the bathroom to grab a pill which will get the pain down to manageable levels and I can fall back asleep. Unfortunately, Nance has just gotten a prescription for Ambien, a medicine for insomnia. I take it by mistake, and it's only as I get up at 5:30 and literally stumble toward my bath that I realize that something is very, very wrong. In any event, I won't be driving this morning, and if all goes well, I will soon be snooring again.

You will, however, have class. I would like you to meet in your groups and begin work on your tea papers. Brainstorm together what you might say in your paper. Go through your sociology texts and try to figure out places where what was discussed apply to the tea. If possible, work out a tentative outline for your paper prior to leaving class. You will turn a *copy* of these outlines in to me on Friday, so you have between now and Friday to work on them.

I am trusting you to stay on task and work in groups. On Friday, since you'll again be working in groups, this time on your oral presentation, I'll have more to say on the subject. Here's the short version:

Appointment someone to run the meeting and someone to keep track of what gets said:

1. Figure out a clear statement of what you need to accomplish.
2. Assign specific tasks for each member of your group to accomplish.
3. Set specific deadlines for these tasks to be accomplished.
4. Negotiate these deadlines/tasks until every feels comfortable.
5. Set a time, place, and the agenda for the next meeting.


Steve

Why Commas Matter

Writing Advice and Resources

Here's the best of the advice on writing I read this week on the web. Find below a like to StudentHack and a post with some very good advice on starting and completing a first draft:

http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/31/first-draft/

Here's a link to one of the best collection of writing resources I've seen on over a year. It's focused toward professional and creative writers, but there's lots (and I mean *LOTS*) of good stuff here for student writers:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/the-ultimate-writing-productivity-resource.html


Enjoy.

Your Last, New Reading Assignment from _Writing for College, Writing for Life_

Read: Chapter 8, "Writing to Convince."

Reading for the Portfolio

When thinking about putting together your portfolio, may I suggest you read appendix A in _Writing for College, Writing for Life_. This reading will show you an example of a student portfolio which was put together for one of the authors of the text. It will offer some suggestions for ways to organize and select materials. Pay particular attention to how the author, Chelsea Rundle, has responded to the the learning outcomes.

Steve